The Imo police command says it has identified the location where 19 prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members abducted in the state are being held.
Audu Bosso, the Imo police commissioner, spoke on Saturday while updating the media on the rescue operation.
He said security operatives deployed drones on Friday to pinpoint the kidnappers’ hideout after tracking them into the bush.
However, Bosso said the operation was being approached cautiously following intelligence reports that the camp had been rigged with improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
“Any moment, we’ll still move into the bush. Yesterday, we were in the bush; we trailed them up to a particular location,” he said.
“But at that point in time, we couldn’t move into where the coordinates showed us they were because we ran drones yesterday. And the drone actually showed us exactly their location.
“But our predicament is that with the intel we have, the camp is mined with IEDs.”
Bosso said security agencies were preparing to enter the area with heavy equipment, including bulldozers and armoured personnel carriers (APCs), to rescue the victims safely.
“We are moving in there with high, you know, high-velocity vehicles, that is, bulldozers; we’re moving in with bulldozers and APCs to see how we’re going to rescue these victims unhurt,” he added.
The development comes two days after gunmen abducted passengers during an attack on two 18-seater buses along the Owerri-Onitsha expressway.
Okoye Henry, the Imo police spokesperson, had confirmed that prospective NYSC members were among those abducted during the attack.
He subsequently said that 10 victims had been rescued.